You’ve probably heard of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company … their houses have been featured in Time, Domino, USA Today, and the New York Times, to name a few publications. The home pictured above is different from their other homes, which have that traditional, A-frame-esque shape. All Tumbleweed homes are sufficiently small, but this home is modern. It’s 400 sf of green modern. The Z-Glass House is a stationary house, meant to be affixed to a foundation. You buy the plans and find a contractor to build it for you (with costs ranging in the $100 – $200 psf range). Or you can build it yourself. Check the layout, too. Such a great looking home, with a kitchen, bedroom, living room, and bathroom, what else do you need? Add a little solar on the roof, or maybe even a Skystream, and call it done.

There’s a new online video show hosted by Alex Pettitt called Mainstream Green. Their videos are high-quality and super informative. Sometimes, it helps to see how things work, so I love to show video as often as possible. The video above is on recycling and deconstruction. The deconstruction guy says the cost of on-site deconstruction is comparable to waste removal. That’s a good. Generally, people are self-interested and when it becomes profitable to do the right thing, more and more people will start doing the right thing. Makes sense doesn’t it?

Green certifications are important, but can you imagine a world where buildings are better than the best Platinum level certification? Can you imagine a building that lives? A living building is self-sustaining and off-the-grid in terms of energy and water usage. A living building goes beyond the paper requirements for certification and seeks true sustainability. Earlier this month at Greenbuild, the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the USGBC announced winners of the 2007 Living Building Competition. Here are the winners:

Since 2003, the number of cities with green building programs has risen from 22 to 92, for an increase of 418%. This figure, as well as others below, comes as a result of a study commissioned by the AIA. Their newly published report, Local Leaders in Sustainability, analyzed 661 communities’ best practices, strategies, and trends, and provides recommendations for cities that are looking to implement green building programs.

1 in 7 cities surveyed currently have green building programs

Number improves to 1 in 5 by next year with current projections

39% of citizens live in cities with green building programs

36 cities are in an advanced stage of developing a green building program

Last week, former President George H. W. Bush installed a 33-foot tall, Skystream 3.7 wind turbine to provide energy for the Bush’s Kennebunkport home. The Bushes were courted by Southwest Windpower, one of the forerunners in small-wind innovation, and after looking at the pros and cons, they decided to take the plunge. The turbine is connected to the grid and feeds excess power to the system.

Since the home is their summer home, it will probably have a substantial credit from all the energy they’re feeding into the system during the winter. The Bushes decided to purchase the turbine for financial and environmental reasons, but they’re also setting a good example, too. Via Portland Press Herald.

Bedrock Industries is a very cool green company. They use 100% recycled glass and are committed to never using any new material. What they do with this glass is just as cool; they use it for tiles, art projects, glass dinnerware, crushed stone pathways and colored sand, and even sell it to be used as mosaic material or as a substrate in homemade green concrete countertops. They have a great range of colors ranging from red, yellow and brown to turquoise, pink and purple. Their tiles are beautiful and come in many shapes, including some very unusual shapes like leafs and flower petals.